GE expects solution to U.S. "fiscal cliff," CFO says

NEWTON, Mass., Nov 15 (Reuters) - General Electric Co
Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin said he would like to see
lawmakers reach a solution to avoid a year-end fiscal cliff but
believes it may take longer for a full accord on reducing the
U.S. deficit.

"We have elected officials who have a primary responsibility
to help us manage the fiscal situation of the country and
they're not getting it done," Sherin said. "It's in everybody's
interest to find some way to have a bipartisan solution to deal
with our deficit situation, which cannot continue obviously at
the level they've been. It's going to be a combination of
raising revenue and cutting long-term spending."

The fiscal cliff refers to $600 billion in spending cuts and
higher taxes scheduled to take effect early in 2013 if Obama and
Congress are unable to reach a deal on cutting the federal
budget deficit. Going over the cliff could send the U.S. economy
back into recession, economists forecast.

The largest U.S. conglomerate refinanced a $5 billion bond
that had been due to mature in February with an eye towards
avoiding any disruptions to debt markets that could result if
the U.S. economy went over the fiscal cliff, Sherin said.

"We looked at the situation and we said, 'Why are we going
to wait? We like the rates, we have a bit of uncertainty here,
obviously,'" Sherin said at an event sponsored by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of
Management, outside Boston. "We just did it so we didn't have to
refinance that in potentially disrupted markets."

The financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 shook GE to its core,
prompting the company to rethink the way it finances itself. GE
now holds enough cash on hand to run for more than a year
without accessing capital markets, Sherin said.

Sherin's boss, GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt, was one of a
dozen top U.S. CEOs called to the White House to meet with
President Barack Obama on Wednesday to discuss a solution to the
fiscal cliff.

The meeting was a "constructive, detailed discussion,"
Sherin said, citing a conversation with Immelt.

Sherin said lawmakers may not be able to agree on an overall
deal to address the deficit issue by the year's end and instead
may need to come up with some stop-gap solutions.

"There has got to be a little more time to work on the full
grand bargain," Sherin said. "I don't think they could possibly
resolve all of that by the end of the year. Could there be some
kind of agreement that gets at some of these issues and then a
further timetable to resolve them completely? That's highly
likely."

Still, Sherin said he is expecting the U.S. to avoid a
crisis.

"We're not planning on disaster recovery plans and all
that," Sherin said. "I'm not losing sleep over the fiscal
cliff."